Nanobots

The following is a detailed
definition of a nanobot from Wikipedia, but I can tell you a whole lot
quicker. It is a really, really small robot.

Actually, from what I've read in the links I've collected below, they
should not even be called nanobots, maybe microbots or biobots would be
a better name.

Nanobots do not exist yet, but when they do, futurists predict possible
uses for nanorobots will include molecular manufacturing (nanofactories) and medical
nanobots that steer autonomously through your blood stream making
repairs and guarding against infection.

The bad side of nanobots will be their obvious suitability for spying and
the possibility, however unlikely, of a nanobot takeover, aka grey goo.

Nanorobotics is the technology of creating machines or robots at or
close to the microscopic scale of a nanometer (10−9
meters). More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the still largely
hypothetical nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and
building nanorobots, devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometers and
constructed of nanoscale or molecular components.

As of 2010 nobody has yet built artificial non-biological nanorobots:
they remain a hypothetical concept. The names nanobots, nanoids, nanites
or nanomites have also been used to describe these hypothetical devices.

Grey Goo

Grey goo (alternatively spelled gray goo) is a hypothetical
end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which
out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while
building more of themselves, a scenario known as ecophagy ("eating the
environment").

Self-replicating machines of the macroscopic variety were originally
described by mathematician John von Neumann, and are sometimes referred
to as von Neumann machines. The term grey goo was coined by
nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of
Creation, stating that "we cannot afford certain types of accidents." In
2004 he stated "I wish I had never used the term 'grey goo'."

Size Matters

This illustration from
nano.gov gives visual examples of the size and the scale of nanotechnology,
showing us just how small nanotechnology actually is.

A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. In comparison, a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers in diameter.

All dimensions are approximate. Nanoparticle is courtesy of the National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence
Berkeley Lab, US Department of Energy.

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